Pick-up tool

ABSTRACT

A pick-up tool comprising an elongated hollow shank having a fixed jaw at one end, a pivoting jaw opposite the fixed jaw, a handle transverse to the shank, a trigger adjacent the handle and moveably mounted thereon, a connection member attached to the moveable jaw and to the trigger, and a spring urging the moveable jaw into an open position. 
     The moveable jaw closes into a notch in the forward end of the fixed jaw. A major portion of the length of the moveable jaw is closely adjacent to the fixed jaw when the jaws are in a position of being closed to the maximum. The connection member is flexible and has a slacking section urged toward a slack position by a spring secured to the ends of the slacking section, the connection member being drawn taut by a sufficient movement of the trigger.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Pick-up tools of the prior art have had the moveable jaw connected to atrigger by a stiff rod whereby it is difficult to carefully press thetrigger just enough to avoid injury to an animal which it is desired topick up. This can be important in picking up a kitten or many fastmoving animals. The very speed of the amimal requires fast action on thepart of the operator and it is easy for the operator to becomeexcessively excited and squeeze the trigger sufficiently enough toinjure the animal. This problem is also involved in the catching ofsnakes. In some areas of the country poisonous snakes can be sold ifcaught alive so that their venom can be extracted and used.

To cushion the jaws by placing resilient material such as foam rubber orthe like on the opposite surfaces of the jaws has its disadvantages.Such materials are weak by nature and tend to break off. Anything addedto the jaws can tend to become unglued, particularly when the tool isused out in the rain and in damp grasses.

My solution for this problem involves a flexible cable or connectionmember between the trigger and the moveable jaw and which has a slackingportion which can be caused to assume a slack condition whenever thetrigger is released, since a spring extends across a slacking portiondrawing its ends towards each other. When the operator grips an animalhe can easily sense through his fingers when the spring is beingextended and at that moment there is a sufficient pressure for holding akitten, snake or other animal. The operator, sensing this, can cease toexert further pressure more than necessary to maintain the extension ofthe spring without allowing the spring to become overcome to an extentsuch as would straighten out the slacking portion of the cable. Thisconstruction has advantage because it is also possible when heavyobjects are being gripped, or whenever desired, to use maximum handpressure, drawing the cable completely taut, and exerting maximumpressure at the jaws.

With this construction the operator can either be very gentle with ananimal or he can be very forceful when gentleness is not needed.

The prior art contains jaws which overlap but to my knowledge does notcontain a fixed jaw with a notch in its forward end for receiving theforward end of the moveable jaw. This construction is my new concept fora superior gripping action in which the upper jaw extends betweenforwardly extending portions of the lower jaws and the gripping effectis complete.

To my knowledge jaws of the prior art for these purposes have had onlysmall forward portions which are adapted to touch each other.

It is another object of this invention to provide jaws having along themajority of their lengths substantially parallel oppositely disposedsurfaces, which either touch or almost touch, whereby a great manyobjects can be gripped which are of a relatively small or thin natureand yet a complete "closure" around an object is assured because theoverlapping forward ends of the jaws tend to trap a smaller object orsnake, or a smaller animal in an area bounded by the opposed surfaces ofthe jaws.

A particular object is to provide the tool with a trigger which ispivoted from an axis disposed substantially to one side of the shank sothat there is an adequate distance between such an axis and the point atwhich the rearward end of flexible connecting cable is secured to thetrigger, whereby a great amount of trigger motion is possible withoutthe trigger striking a hand grip extending generally parallel to it.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A pick-up tool including in combination with an elongated tubular shank,a handle having a hand grip portion extending transversely to the shankin one direction, and having a trigger receiving portion extendingtransversely to the shank in an opposite direction from the handle, thetrigger receiving portion of the handle being hollow, a trigger in saidtrigger receiving portion and extending outwardly therefrom in adirection transverse to said shank and generally parallel to saidhandle, said trigger being pivotally attached to said trigger receivingportion of said handle for pivoting about an axis substantially disposedto that side of said shank which is opposite said handle, a fixed jawsecured to the opposite end of said shank, a moveable jaw disposedopposite said fixed jaw, means on the inner end of said fixed jaw forattachment to said moveable jaw, means pivotally attaching said moveablejaw to said attachment portion of said fixed jaw for the pivoting ofsaid moveable jaw around a jaw axis transverse to said shank, resilientmeans attached to said moveable and fixed jaws and urging said moveablejaw into an open position, a connection member connecting said moveablejaw with said trigger in a manner so that as said trigger is movedtoward said handle said moveable jaw will close toward said fixed jaw.

The fixed jaw has a notch in its forward end into which said moveablejaw moves at times of a maximum closing of said jaws, the forward end ofsaid fixed jaw extending forwardly and transversely to said shank and atan inclination to said shank, the forward end of said moveable jawextending forwardly at an inclination with respect to said shank and atan obtuse angle with respect to said shank at times when said moveablejaw is in closed position, whereby said moveable and fixed jaws lap eachother at their forward ends, as seen in side elevation parallel to saidjaw axis.

A further object is to provide the lower jaw with a recess into which aspring is received for serving as the resilient member urging saidmoveable jaw into open position.

A particular object of the invention is to provide for the connctionmember being flexible such as a flexible cable and having a slackingportion intermediate said jaws and said trigger, tensioning means suchas a tension spring disposed across the slacking portion in the cable,and means attached to the cable at opposite ends, respectively, of theslacking portion of the cable and engageable by the tensioning means sothat whenever said cable is not drawn and completely taut saidtensioning means will cause slack to be present in said slacking portionof said cable by urging the ends of the slacking portion of the cabletoward each other with an amount of tension which is overcomeable by anaverage operator by pressing said trigger towards said handlesufficiently to draw said flexible connecting member into tautrelationship so as to remove the slack from said slacking portionwhereby maximum pressure can be exerted in closing said jaws.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING

FIG. 1 is a side elevation of the pick-up tool of this invention shownwith portions of its lower jaw, shank and handle removed for showing theinterior construction, parts of which latter are shown in cross-section,the open position of the jaws being shown in full lines, and the closedposition of the moveable jaw being shown in dotted line.

The tension spring being partially diagrammatically shown so as toillustrate a slacking portion of a cable therein.

FIG. 2 is a top plan view of a forward portion of the fixed jaw.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

The remote gripping tool of this invention is generally indicated at 10in FIG. 1 and comprises an elongated fixed jaw and shank assembly 12,the rearward portion of which is in the form of a tubular member havinga transverse handle 20 attached thereto and projecting from one sidethereof. The handle 20 is preferably in the general form of a pistolgrip and has a rearward side 24. The handle 20 extends transversely tothe tubular shank and fixed jaw assembly 12, which latter is elongatedsubstantially in a straight line.

A trigger attachment assembly generally indicated at 26 attaches thehandle 20 to the rearward end of the shank and lower jaw assembly 12 andalso prvides means for mounting a trigger as later described, thetrigger attachment assembly 26 having a cavity 27 therein receiving atrigger later described and which opens at its lower end for movementsof the later described trigger forward and rearward, the cavity 27 beingfor receiving therein the upper end of the trigger 30. The uppermost endof the trigger 30 is pivotally secured by a pin 32 to the upper portion26 of the handle 20, so as to swing about an axis 34, which istransverse to the length of the straight shank 12 and disposed to oneside of the shank 12, that side being opposite to the side toward whichthe pistol grip portion 24 projects. The trigger 30 extends in the samedirection as the pistol grip portion 24 substantially the same distanceor at least enough so that a person can get three fingers thereon topull the trigger 30 at a time when the index finger is disposed alongside the shank 12 for guidance and control as is particularly valuablewhen catching moving animals or snakes. The forward side of the trigger30 is spaced from the rearward side 24 of the handle 20 a distance suchthat an average adult person can extend fingers around the trigger 30for operating it at a time when another part of the inner side of anoperator's hand, such as the inner side of the operator's thumb or themiddle of the operator's hand is disposed against the rearward side 24of the handle 20.

The handle 24 has a protrusion 38 on its rearward side and at its upperend to receive thereagainst the upper portion of an operator's hand.

At the forward end of the shank 12 is a head, generally indicated at 50,which has a lower jaw 52 fixed thereto, the jaw 52 being rigid with theshank 12.

The head 50 receives the inner end portion 58 of the upper jaw 60therein and the head 50 is hollow for that purpose and the lower jaw 52is hollow also for the purpose of receiving a spring or resilient member70.

The head 50 has an ear assembly 74, to which the upper jaw 60 isconnected in a manner for pivoting about an axis 78, which latter can becalled the forward axis or jaw axis 78 and which latter is parallel tothe axis 34 and at a right angle to the elongated shank 12. The hollowinterior 84 of the head 50 receives a spring 70 which is anchored at itsforward end 88 to the fixed jaw 52, the spring 70 extending upwardly andrearwardly, its rearward end is fixed suitably by a wire portion 94 to adownwardly projecting portion 98 of the moveable jaw 60, the wireportion 94 being anchored at a point 104, which latter is disposed alonga pin 106, which is transverse to the elongation of the moving jaw 60 sothat the spring 70 tends to pull the moving jaw 60 into the openposition, shown in full lines in FIG. 1.

The moving jaw 60 has a generally straight under surface 122 whichcurves downwardly at its forward end sharply, as seen at 124. The outerside of the jaw 60 likewise curves downwardly at 126 and the jaw portion124 is adapted to rest between two spaced portions 128 of the lower jawor fixed jaw 52, the portions 128 projecting from the forward end of thelower or fixed jaw 52 and disposed on opposite sides of a notch 134formed purposely to receive the down-turned forward end 142 of the jaw60 therebetween. The portions 128 of the fixed jaw 52 curve upwardly, asseen in FIG. 1, so that the overlap is such that when the moving jaw 60is in its closed position, shown in dotted lines in FIG. 1, the curvedforward portion 142 of the moving jaw 60 will make a cris-cross with theupturned portions 128 of the fixed jaw 52, whereby the portions 128project upwardly and beyond the moving jaw portion 142 and likewise themoving jaw portion 142 projects downwardly beyond the upwardly curvedunder surface 148 of the fixed jaw 52, as shown in dotted lines in FIG.1.

As seen in FIGS. 1 and 2, the spring 70 and all parts shown are on thesame scale in both of these figures of the drawing and the notch 134will be seen to extend substantially less than half the length of thefixed jaw and the fixed jaw 52 will be seen in FIG. 2 to have adimension transversely of the shank 12 which is less than twice thewidth of the shank 12.

In FIG. 1 it will be seen that the terminal end portions of the opposedsurfaces of the jaws 52 and 60 each incline toward the other when thejaws are open and each laps the other when the jaws are closed, with theterminal end portion of the movable jaw 60 received in the notch 134 inthe fixed jaw 52.

A connection unit or assembly is generally indicated at 179 and connectsthe moving jaw 60 to the trigger 30 as later described, and comprisingall parts disposed between the moveable jaw 60 and trigger 30 beginningwith a control cable 180.

The off-set or downwardly protruding part 98 of the moving jaw 60 isattached at the point 104 also to the pull cable or control cable 180and the attachment of the forend of the cable 180 can be by passing itaround a pin 106 at the point 104 and then swaging the end with aswaging clamp 184. The cable 180 extends rearwardly to a pin 188attached to the trigger 30 and extending transversely thereto, the pin188 being at a point 190 of a trigger 30 which is disposed in the mostdesired position for maintaining the cable 180 free of contact with theinner side of the shank 12 and particularly for keeping a coiled springor resilient member 200 fixed around the cable 180 from touching theinner side of the shank 12.

The spring 200 has an elongated central portion 202 and contracted endportions 204, each of which is disposed on the opposite side of thecenter of the elongated spring 200 from a swaging ball 210 near theforward end of the spring 200 and a swaging ball 212 near the rearwardend of the spring 200. Both swaging balls 210 and 212 are spacedinwardly from the ends of the spring 200 so as to engage the inner sidesof the contracted portions 204 whereby the spring 200 tends to draw thatportion slacking section 230 of the cable 180 which is disposed betweenthe balls 210 and 212 into a slack relationship, as shown in FIG. 1,although tension from the trigger 30 being pulled toward the handle 20can and will draw the cable 180 out straight by expanding the spring 200so that the spring 200 comes to have no effect and so that the pull onthe cable 180 is just as forceful as the full effect of the grip of theoperator on the trigger 30 can make it for giving a maximum of pressurebetween the jaws for maximum of gripping.

A connection assembly generally indicated at 238 interconnects the pins104 and 188, and has in its parts the cable 180, the spring 200, theswaging balls 210 and 212 and suitable means connecting the ends of thecable 180 to the respective pins 104 and 188.

As best seen in side elevation in FIG. 1, the opposed surfaces of thefixed lower jaw 52 and of the moveable upper jaw 60, as seen in sideelevation, are cooperatively shaped for being substantially inengagement with each other along the majority of the opposed jawsurfaces as measured lengthwise of the elongated shank 12.

As best seen in FIG. 1, each of the jaws 52 and 60 has blunt terminalsurfaces as seen in side elevation, and one of the jaws which is thefixed jaw 52 can be seen in FIG. 2 to have blunt terminal surfaces intop plan view.

In FIG. 1 it can be seen that the opposed surfaces of the jaws 52 and 60are substantially smooth, as seen in side elevation.

Referring to FIG. 1, it can be seen that the terminal end portions 124of the moveable jaw 60 and 128 of the fixed jaw 52 have opposed surfaceswhich are inclined towards each other, as seen in side elevation in FIG.1, when the jaws are in open position. And in dotted lines in FIG. 1 itwill be seen that the terminal end portions 124 and 128 of the jaws arein a lapping relationship when the jaws are fully closed as seen in sideelevation.

Attachment of the tubular shank 12 to the handle 24 is accomplished bythe means of there being provided on the forward end of the upperportion 26 of the handle a forwardly projecting tubular portion 302which latter laps the rearward end 304 of the tubular shank 12. Sincethe portion 302 is cylindrical on its exterior and makes a snug fit witha cylindrical interior of the tube 304, a good fit is provided and thesimple provision of a pop rivet 310 is suitable for connecting thetubular portion 302 with the tubular shank 12. A second pop rivet 312can also be used.

I claim:
 1. A pick-up tool comprising an elongated shank, a fixed jawattached to a forward end of said shank, a moveable jaw, means attachingsaid moveable jaw to said fixed jaw for the pivoting of said moveablejaw about a jaw-axis disposed at a right angle to the elongation of saidshank, said fixed jaw and shank defining a jaw and shank assembly,resilient means connecting said moveable jaw with said jaw and shankassembly in a manner for urging said moveable jaw into open positionwith respect to said closed jaw, a connection unit attached to saidmoveable jaw and extending rearwardly along said shank, connection unittensioning means disposed at the rearward end of said shank and manuallyoperable for tensioning said connection unit so as to urge said moveablejaw toward said fixed jaw, said connection unit having a flexibleslacking section, a resilient assembly comprising a resilient means andmeans connected to said connection unit at each end of said slackingsection and engageable by said resilient means in a manner such thatsaid resilient means urges the ends of said slacking section towardseach other for putting slack in said connection unit.
 2. The pick-uptool of claim 1 having the opposed surfaces of said jaws cooperativelyshaped for being substantially in engagement with each other along themajority of said opposed jaw surfaces as measured lengthwise of saidshank and as seen in side elevation and when said jaws are substantiallyclosed.
 3. The pick-up tool of claim 2 having the terminal end portionsof the opposed surfaces of said jaws inclined towards each other as seenin side elevation view when said jaws are open and being in overlappingrelationship when said jaws are fully closed as seen in side elevationview.
 4. The pick-up tool of claim 3, the opposed surfaces of said jawsbeing cooperatively shaped for being substantially in engagement witheach other along the majority of said opposed jaw surfaces as measuredlengthwise of said shank and as seen in side elevation and when saidjaws are substantially closed, said fixed jaw having blunt terminalsurfaces as seen in side elevation and in top plan view.
 5. The pick-uptool of claim 2 having the opposed surfaces of said jaws substantiallysmooth as seen in side elevation.
 6. The pick-up tool of claim 1 havingthe opposed surfaces of said jaws cooperatively shaped for beingsubstantially in engagement with each other along the majority of saidopposed jaw surfaces as measured lengthwise of said shank and as seen inside elevation and when said jaws are substantially closed, said fixedjaw having blunt terminal surfaces as seen in side elevation and in topplan view.
 7. A pick-up tool comprising an elongated shank, a fixed jawattached to a forward end of said shank, a moveable jaw, means attachingsaid moveable jaw to said fixed jaw for the pivoting of said moveablejaw about a jaw-axis disposed at a right angle to the elongation of saidshank, said fixed jaw and shank defining a jaw and shank assembly,resilient means connecting said moveable jaw with said jaw and shankassembly in a manner for urging said moveable jaw into open positionwith respect to said fixed jaw, a connection assembly attached to saidmoveable jaw and extending rearwardly along said shank, connectionassembly tensioning means disposed at the rearward end of said shank andmanually operable for tensioning said connection asssembly so as to urgesaid moveable jaw toward said fixed jaw, said fixed jaw having a cavitytherein in which at least the major portion of said resilient means isdisposed, said connection assembly having a flexible slacking section, aresilient assembly comprising a resilient means and means connected tosaid connection assembly at each end of said slacking section andengageable by said resilient means in a manner such that said resilientmeans urges the ends of said slacking section towards each other forputting slack in said connection assembly.
 8. The pick-up tool of claim7, said fixed jaw having blunt terminal surfaces as seen in sideelevation and in top plan view.